In the penultimate part of our series of meditating on the wondrous similarities between Mother’s love and that of our Redeemer, coinciding as it is with the annual, global “Mother’s Day” celebrations, today we shall focus on two more parallels…
Security…
“…How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings…” (Luke 13:34)
Providing protection to her children, whatever be the cost is but one of the many manifestations of a Mother’s agape love. Here I would like to recount a deeply touching story involving a mother bird which figures into the biography of the inimitable Sadhu…Sundar Singh. It is said once the forest through which the Sadhu was travelling was engulfed suddenly in flames. As he himself was on the run, he overheard the frantic cries of a mother bird circling desperately over its nest full of nestlings, as the fire spread to the tree where the nest rested. He saw that as the fire reached the nest, the mother bird with its fully-developed wings, instead of using it for flying away from danger, settled down on the nest and covered its nestlings with them, preferring to perish in the flames along with its young ones.
We are His Creation…after we were permanently marred by the sin of our first parent’s, there was no other way He could save us from His own just wrath against sin other than by coming down in human body and dying in our stead (Rom 5:8-10). The excruciating physical, emotional and spiritual agony the Saviour had to endure to accomplish this can never be properly measured or fathomed. Oh let not our hearts ever become cold and stal,e forgetting what it cost our Saviour to save us! Truth be told, if anyone (God forbid) lands up in hell, it would be because of his own hard-heartedness in declining the gracious offer of Salvation through the Cross.
Yet another aspect of security is that there is always that “ring of fire” around every Christian, which no enemy can pierce (Exo 19:4), as long as the former is obedient to His Saviour.
Supply…
“As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.” (1 Tim 6:17)
Will a mother ever deprive her children of the best? Ditto with the Creator and Sustainer of our lives as well (Deu 8:18/Matt 7:11/James 1:17)! Count on Him to give you all you need, not all you want, because all you desire may not eventually be good for you. In the matter of asking dear friends, it would serve us well to use our God-given discretion and ask only what all figures under the category of “perfect will” of God (Rom 8:26-27) and not His “permissive will” (Remember how the travelling Israelites en-route to Canaan tragically learned this truth at a tremendous cost? See Psalm 106:15).
Prayer: Our Father in Heaven, how can we ever adequately thank you for our loving mothers’ whose very presence would contribute to our emotional wholesomeness deeply speaking to our hearts at all times that here is the one who would to go to any extent to ensure our welfare. We simply praise thee wholeheartedly in Jesus’ Name. Amen!!!
Suresh Manoharan
An unworthy servant
J and SM Ministries
(To access the entire “A Tribute to Mothers” mini-series, please click here.)